Vestal officials have moved forward with flood recovery by agreeing to demolish some of the town’s most damaged homes. Town board members voted unanimously on Wednesday to tear down seventeen homes in Vestal. The homes will be the first to go into the Vestal buyout program with FEMA due to being declared unsafe. Town Supervisor John Schaffer says the homes have to be torn down because they are too unsafe to enter. Nobody is able to enter the buildings to remove asbestos due to concerns of serious injury possibly taking place. Schaffer says 59 homes in Vestal are in the buyout program. The rest of the homes will undergo asbestos abatement before being torn down.
